Joe heard the footsteps behind him; he turned to look to see who it was.

"You need to come now, the feds came trying to get Alex. They had a Protective Order for Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono that was issued by the Court." Antoine said.

Joe interrupted him. "You didn't let them take her did you?"

"No," Antoine stated.

Lester let out a sigh, "Morelli, you have to let me out of here."

Joe turned back to the door and opened the cell. "I'll deal with you in her life Santos. Don't make me regret this."

He turned back to Antoine before he allowed Lester to say anything else to him. "How did they miss not seeing Alex?"

"We were messing around, I was keeping her entertained, and she went under the desks. I shot her with the toy gun and she took the ammo with her. That was when they came up. She knows Ramono is dead. I had to get them to leave, but she found out about Ramono." Antoine told him.

"I didn't want her to find out like that." Joe said as the three of them started walking out of the cell area. "I can't give her answers to who she is yet." Joe ran his hands through his hair. "Damn. I didn't want her finding that out, it was bad enough when she found out she was younger than what she really is."

Joe felt the hand on his arm and he stopped to look at Lester, "How old is she?"

He's worried now. Good, now maybe he can understand why I don't want him pushing a relationship with her. Joe thought.

"At least fourteen. She'll turn fifteen this year Santos. I don't have her birth date yet. I do know the month is July, just not the day." Joe told him.

"Shit!"

Joe heard the shock as it registered from Lester, "Precisely."

Joe turned away from Lester. Let him deal with that, Alex was upset enough when she found out. Joe thought.

"How did she take it?" Lester asked.

"How do you think she took it Santos?" Joe turned to look at him. "How would you like to find out you are younger than what you are? You aren't the person you thought you were that you don't even belong to the people who had you. She wants answers Santos that I don't have yet. She doesn't need to find out anything else today. I don't want her falling apart on me right now. Not until I can make sure I have what she needs to help her piece her life back."

"We need Fritos, bean dip, and coke." Lester said.

"What?" Joe asked.

"I'll go get it." Antoine said and ran off from the two.

"Her comfort food. Ranger saw it in the car, along with stuff Stephanie usually gets. Ranger had asked Stephanie about it and said that was what Alex went for." Lester told him.

At least he's giving me information on what she wants. This is good, maybe Santos will work with me enough to keep her distracted till I have answers. Joe thought.

"Let's get your stuff, and get you out of those orange shoes." Joe looked down and shook his head, "I need you to keep her distracted for the next day or so. Long enough for me to start getting answers. I don't want her playing what ifs with me, and I want her to understand that she's still Alex. As far as I'm concerned, she can keep that name, I don't plan on her losing that name if she wants it."

"I can keep her distracted." Lester told him.

"Good, make sure you do." Joe pulled the picture out of his pocket that he had that was in the plastic bag. "Let me know if you find anything like this." He showed it to Lester.

"We have one, but it's only of Alex, when she was two. It's at the office." Lester told him. "Is this her mother?"

"Yes. And I want that other picture. This is just not about Alex, Santos. There is some sick twisted fucker out there playing with me. Alex is caught in the middle of this. I can't even find out who signed my name to the birth record because it's classified." Joe said.

Lester handed the photo back, "Try Blade, it's his code name for the guy who left the picture. He was Shiropolli's stooge. He's an agent Morelli. I don't think he's the one who started this shit, maybe he's working for the person who did. He's renegade though. You better call Ranger; he knows more than I do."

"I have a few contacts on the inside; I'll see what I can come up with first." Joe turned and started walking towards the inmate check out. Joe signed all the paperwork releasing Lester into his custody. He would have to pay the security guard out at the mall a visit later tonight and get him to drop the charges on Lester. "Get your stuff."

Lester laced his boots back on and put everything back on his person that had been taken from him. By the time Lester was done, Antoine arrived back with the things Lester had asked for. Lester took the bag from him. Joe led Lester into the detective section of the precinct. Joe could hear the click, whoosh, thunk, and plop. He kept hearing the same sounds only louder by the time they arrived at his and Antoine's cubicle. Joe went around to Antoine's desk and squatted down. Alex was shooting the toy gun at the desk underneath making the dart stick over and over again.

"Hey Kitten, you want to trade that gun in for a coke, Fritos and bean dip?" Joe asked her.

How does he know about that? Alex thought. She turned and looked at Joe. She pushed the dart back down into the gun. "How about you let me keep the gun and you give me the other things as well?"

Alex turned and shot the same spot she'd been shooting for at least the last half hour. She was waiting for the yell to come again. The yell she heard from the other side of the room. It was almost time for it.

"Son of a Bitch! Cut that damn shit out. Twenty minutes straight, damn can't hear myself think."

"Shut up Davis!" Joe yelled back at him. "You don't want me to voice your annoying little habits."

Alex turned and looked at Joe. "He screams a lot, it's this sound that really annoys him." Alex reached out pulled the dart off the desk. The sucker made the loud pop as it gave away. She could hear Davis groan loud in the background. She saw Joe smiling at her.

"I'll have to remember that. You just gave us something to annoy him now when he gets on our nerves." Joe reached out for the gun. "How about you give me my gun back now, Kitten? That way I can shoot it when Davis gets on my nerves. Then Santos can take you to go levitate some excess energy."

Alex looked out from under the desk and saw Lester grinning down at her. She saw the bag in his hand and looked back at Joe. She placed the gun in his hand. "Who am I?"

Joe took her hand in his free one and gave a tug pulling her out from under the desk. "You're my Kitten. That's who you are." He drew her to him and put his arms around her.

I want to be more than just Kitten. Alex thought. I haven't been held like this in awhile.

Lester watched as Alex went into Joe's arms. The one thing he noticed was the tense way her body froze up and then relaxed. She buried her face into Joe's chest. Lester sat down on the corner of Antoine's desk. He watched as Joe looked back and saw Antoine's chair behind him and Joe sat down pulling Alex with him. Joe let Alex continue to cry as he soothed her. Lester sat the bag down and got up. "I need to make a call, I'll be back."

Lester walked out of the station, Antoine followed him outside. He pulled out his phone and was ready to dial Ranger when he heard the shot. Lester spun as he saw Antoine go down who was standing right beside him. Looking up Lester saw the white van peel out of the police parking lot. Three uniform officers ran out of the station with guns drawn, one of them had their gun trained on Lester.

"I didn't do it. White Van, couldn't see the driver." Lester said. He looked down at Antoine and saw the dart sticking out of his chest.

Blade! Fuck! How did he know she was here? This guy is losing it. Lester thought. We have to get Alex out of here.

One of the officers pulled the dart out of Antoine's chest and unwrapped the paper.

"Next time do as you're asked." He looked around to the other officers "What does this mean?"

Blade sent the feds in. He's pushing buttons on both levels. Lester thought. He moved around the officers and headed for the door that was opening up. Lester saw Joe in the doorway. "Where is Alex?"

"Behind me. What happened to Antoine?" Joe asked.

Lester saw Alex look around Joe and the horror and fear come over her features. "Scarface." He heard Alex's weak voice.

Joe spun around and faced Alex, "Who?"

Lester moved towards them and pushed Joe back inside and shut the door behind him. He saw the same look in Alex's eyes that she had when she came out of the tranquilizer she had been given the first night he took her to Jose's house. "He's not here, Alex."

"I want to go China now. I don't care what Jose said about waiting, I want to leave now." Alex looked from Joe to Lester.

"China? What are talking about?" Joe asked. "Who is Scarface?"

Joe moved and reached out for Alex. Lester watched for a brief moment as she was going to fight with Joe but she relaxed and went straight to him.

"Scarface is Blade, Morelli." Lester walked over to them, "I agree with Alex, you and she need to leave. I know you want to get to the bottom of things. But at the rate he's working you're going to have to have help. China isn't a bad idea."

Lester saw Alex look up at Joe, "Come to China with me, please? Jose said someone has to come with me. Please, I don't want to stay here anymore." Alex pleaded with Joe.

Joe looked down into Alex's pleading and scared faced. She is so scared of this man she doesn't want to be anywhere near him. Half way around the world is her idea of hiding from him. How can I say no to this face? Joe thought.

"Okay, Kitten." Joe said as he wiped the tears from her face yet again today. "We can't leave right now though; things have to be taken care of." He looked over at Lester.

"Tomorrow, we'll have the both of you gone by tomorrow." Lester said. Lester pulled his cell phone out and dialed.

Joe looked back at Alex; he saw the fear recede from her face. "You know, I feel like I'm running and hiding from this."

Alex put her head back on his chest. "I know, but I can't handle anything else happening right now. I want it to all go away."

Joe kissed the top of her head. "You think it'll go away in China?"

"Probably not. But I can't see Scarface going into a Shoalin Temple to find me either." Alex told him, she looked back up at him. "Scarface is after me, not Shiropolli."

"What did you see?" Joe asked her. He hated when his cop hunches hit him. Alex saw something. He thought maybe she hadn't known, but the way she was talking and wanting to hide led him to believe she knew things.

"I watched him kill Mr. Williams." Alex stated. "It was my fault, I should have agreed to the deal with Shiropolli."

Joe took her head in his hands and tilted her face up to his. "That was not your fault. Don't ever think that Kitten. None of this has been your fault, I'm sorry, Kitten." Joe pulled her back to him. I swear, when I find the person responsible for all of this, I'm going to kill them. Joe thought.